


Problems

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode: s02e17 The Stackhouse Filibuster, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-03-31
Updated: 2001-03-31
Packaged: 2019-05-15 07:56:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14786531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Josh seeks 'Donna advice' from Sam but Toby seems to have most of the answers.





	Problems

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

  
Problems by Bramble

Summary: Josh seeks 'Donna advice' from Sam but Toby  
seems to have most of the answers.

Spoilers: The War at Home and the episodes thru The  
Stackhouse Filibuster. (Nothing specific besides the  
Joey Lucas revelation in TWAH, but assume everything  
that's happened thru TSF has happened here.)

Disclaimers: Aaron Sorkin owns them all.

Rating: PG, I s'pose

Category: J/D I guess (although Donna isn't even in  
it)

***

The bar was loud, but not as noisy as Flannigan's  
across the street. That's why they were here instead.  
It was an 8:00 P.M. working break to discuss how to  
rally up congressional support for an education bill  
that would supply funding for new textbooks to  
inner-city schools. It had been a long day and someone  
had suggested a brainstorming session at this familiar  
Georgetown bar.

"Is Toby coming?"

"Yeah, he had to finish the thing first," Sam said as  
he grabbed a peanut from the bowl.

"Ok", Josh took a swig from his beer.

"So, who do you think.."

"What do you think of Donna..?" They both started at  
the same time.

"Well," Sam paused, "I think we have Donna's support  
for the bill, but she's not a member of Congress so I  
don't really think she counts in this instance."

"Yeah, that's um, actually not what I was thinking  
of."

"I didn't think so, Josh." Sam sat there grinning at  
his best friend.

"I mean..." He stammered a bit and then grabbed a  
handful of peanuts and began to put all of his effort  
into shelling them.

"I think Donna puts up with a lot of crap from you,  
although, oddly enough, not so much in the last few  
weeks. I think Donna is sweet, and smart, and  
obviously very attractive."

"I liked the hat", quipped Josh.

"Excuse me?"

"Remember, when we set the thing on fire, it was cold,  
she had that little hat on. I told her that morning  
that it made her look like 'the flying nun', but I  
really liked it, she was.... adorable in it".

"Did you tell her that part?"

"Noooo", came Josh's reply. He now had a pile of  
shells and a pile of peanuts. He pushed the peanuts  
over towards Sam.

"That's ok, you have them".

"I don't like peanuts."

"Ok."

"What do you think about Donna..."

"I think we already covered this."

"You didn't let me finish."

"Ok."

"What do you think about Donna and.."

"Josh, I got that part, what's the part after Donna?"  
Sam interrupted looking at him with a face so strained  
with effort trying not to laugh, it appeared it might  
crack at any moment. Unfortunately, Josh was too  
distracted to notice his friend's badly hidden  
amusement at this point.

"And me."

"I'm sorry?"

"The part after Donna is..... and me." Josh muttered  
into his beer, taking a big sip.

"Ahhhhhh...well, I think..."

"She's young. She was 24 when I hired her", he  
interrupted.

"She's 27 now, you've, well, you've watched her  
blossom into a woman, Josh."

"Okay, stop being funny, that just creeps me out, you  
make me sound like some kind of pervert here. I'm  
trying to be serious and you mock me. Do you want to  
mock me or help me."

"I want to mock you", Sam chuckled, "Sorry, I had to  
say that. Look, she's 27, almost everyone she works  
with is older than she is, yet she conducts herself  
very professionally, I really don't see that as a  
problem. So you're about to turn 40", Sam stopped  
briefly and looked at Josh, watching his friend put  
his head down on the table and moan, "my point is,  
it's no big deal", Sam finished, popping a couple of  
pre-shelled peanuts into his mouth.

Lifting his head up, Josh muttered under his breath,  
"I am a pervert. I really liked the hat. Sometimes I  
think about Donna wearing just the hat and..." he  
trailed off.

"All men are perverts. It's what we do."

"See, Joey Lucas said something. I've been thinking  
about it since she left."

"When she was here polling?"

"Yeah, she said if there were a hundred Donnas.."

"There are a hundred Donnas?" Toby asked as he hung  
his coat up on the hook outside the booth and glared  
at Sam until the younger man slid over so that Toby  
could scoot in.

"No, there's only one Donna, and Josh likes her. He  
likes her hat a whole lot" Sam said with a grin as he  
filled a mug and pushed it towards Toby and Josh  
started to blush.

"I'm not drinking that crap", Toby responded as he  
began to look around for a waitress, "when you say you  
like Donna, you mean as an assistant, right?"

"No," Sam answered, "he means like a pervert."

"Stop!" Josh's face went down on the table again as  
Toby and Sam exchanged glances.

Sam reached across the table and lightly batted his  
friend on the top of the head.

"What did Joey Lucas say, sport?"

Lifting his head up, Josh took another handful of  
peanuts.

"I don't want anymore peanuts, Josh".

"These are for Toby", he responded and began to shell,  
"She said that the reason Donna wanted me to ask her  
out was because she liked me."

Sam nodded and Toby frowned.

"Donna wanted you to ask her out because she likes  
you?"

"Okay, there are to many pronouns here", Sam offered,  
"I'm a writer, I can translate. Toby, Donna was  
bugging Josh to ask Joey Lucas out. Joey, it appears,  
later told Josh, that Donna was doing this because  
Donna liked Josh."

"Right", Josh confirmed with a nod.

"Ahhh, misdirection", Toby responded as he finally  
managed to flag down a waitress and order a 'real  
drink'.

"How do you know about that?" Josh asked.

"Misdirection Josh, you're a politician, how do *you*  
not know about that?" Toby spat out.

"How did Joey know about that?"

"What I wonder", Toby started, throwing out a pained  
expression, "is how the Washington Post doesn't know  
this?"

"That Donna wanted me to ask Joey Lucas out?" Josh  
asked, confusion spreading across his face for the  
second time that evening.

"No you putz, how you have a thing with your  
assistant. Thanks," he nodded to the waitress as she  
set his drink on the table.

"No I don't!"

"You really do", Sam agreed. "You flirt, you banter,  
you make her stay when you work late, and you always  
stare at her. You have a thing, and quite frankly,  
Joey Lucas isn't the only one who knows it", he  
finished with a self-satisfied grin.

"Toby, did you know this?" Josh asked in a voice a bit  
higher than his normal conversational tone.

"Yeah."

"When? When did you know this?"

"Remember during the campaign and you came bouncing  
into that meeting and told Leo that you had found an  
'assistant' and that you wanted to 'keep her'?"

"Yeah".

"That's when I knew."

"How?"

"Josh, you said you would pay her salary until she  
could be put on it officially. Then, when I met Donna,  
I saw this blonde, leggy girl and I knew. I knew that  
the two of you working together would be a  
problem eventually."

"Toby, what are you saying? I never.." Josh looked at  
Toby shocked.

"I know, I must admit I was wrong. I was wrong about  
the type of problem. I figured she would work for you  
a bit, something would happen, and she'd quit."

"That didn't happen," Sam added helpfully.

"Yes, thank you Kreskin", Toby paused to give Sam a  
patented Toby-glare before he continued, "but she  
actually stood up to you. I had figured either  
something inappropriate would happen between the two  
of you or you would be your typical ass-self and she  
would run crying from the office one day never to  
return. But, strangely enough, you would do something  
idiotic and she would call you an idiot. I started to  
like her then and figured that when you screwed  
something up too bad to fix, we could just fire you  
and keep her. I'm  
still holding out for that, actually."

Sam smiled into his beer and Josh stared at the both  
of them with wide eyes.

"Josh", Toby continued with a sigh, "do you know what  
the second worst kept secret in Washington is?"

"Umm, no", he hesitantly answered.

"You and Donna. And the only reason it hasn't been a  
problem yet is because the only two people that don't  
know about it are..."

"You and Donna", Sam finished.

Josh's mouth fell open.

"I take it that isn't the case anymore", Toby  
finished, downing the rest of his drink.

"We have a problem", Sam agreed with a nod.

***

"It's not a problem", Josh started, "Donna doesn't  
know I know, and to be honest I don't even know what I  
know. She probably doesn't even like me. Joey Lucas  
was probably wrong."

"She does", Toby and Sam said at the same time. Sam  
backed off, as he made an elaborate sweeping gesture  
with his hand in Toby's direction and yielded the  
floor to him.

"I told her.."

"You told her I liked her?" Josh screeched in his new  
'high-voice' that Sam made a mental note to start  
calling his 'Donna-tone'.

"Shut up", Toby said sternly, "I'm not done. After you  
were shot, I was the one that told Donna what had  
happened."

A serious mood quickly descended onto the table and  
there were few seconds of silenece.

"I told her you were hit and she asked, 'with what?'  
We're all sitting there shocked and utterly devastated  
and she asks with such innocence and naiveté, 'with  
what?'. From that whole night, that's what I remember  
most clearly. What she said and the way she looked  
when I told her you were shot. She never left, you  
know", he paused for a moment to add emphasis, "We all  
tried to get her to go home, even the First Lady, but  
she wouldn't. She stayed until you were ok. You were  
the one shot but I think she was the one that almost  
that night." Catching Josh's blank stare, Toby added,  
"Here, I'll pass you the note, Josh. Donna 'likes'  
you."

Josh sighed and stated the obvious, "and it's a  
problem because she's my assistant."

"Yes." Toby answered, looking down at his empty glass,  
"That night after Rosslyn was also when everyone in  
the waiting room knew for sure, I think, that the fact  
that you two would eventually be a problem didn't  
really matter so much."

"What?"

"What the big lug here is trying to say," Sam started,  
"Oww!".

"Sorry, was that you?" Toby asked.

"Yes!"

"Good", Toby scowled at Sam and then turned his  
attention back to Josh, "what *I* am saying is that,  
this thing that you and Donna have is not just a  
thing. It has the potential to be more than that. Look  
at us. Except for the President and the First Lady, no  
one has a relationship, we all work ridiculous hours,  
we have no lives outside of the West Wing."

"I dated a prostitute and Leo's daughter", offered  
Sam.

"I am going to kick you again if you don't shut up",  
Toby said to Sam with a raised voice, he continued,  
"somehow you managed to find this woman that will put  
up with you and, for some reason I will never  
understand, she cares about you tremendously. You  
obviously feel the same way about her. I think, that  
you should find out if you can have this without  
screwing it up and PR problems be damned."

"Toby, I don't know what to say", Josh muttered,  
clearly shocked.

"I'm not saying you should run back to work and  
profess your love, winding up in a heap of moaning,  
pale love-flesh on the floor of your office. Because I  
do think that when this three-year ball of sexual  
tension finally explodes, we are all going to get  
caught in the mess. What I am saying is, that when you  
think you're ready to try being more than her boss or  
her friend, maybe you should really try; and I'm only  
saying that because I think this thing is more than a  
three-year ball of sexual tension. Am I right in  
assuming that?" Toby paused and waited for a response,  
"Josh?" he asked louder.

"Yes", came a subdued reply.

"Ok. Now, as fun as this discussion of Josh's personal  
life has been, can we please do what we came here to  
do".

Josh nodded and excused himself to use the restroom  
before they dived into the bill strategy.

"How much do you want to bet he's calling Donna to say  
he's going to be back at the office later than he  
thought?" Sam asked, as he gazed out into the bar  
area.

"I think we actually have work to do here." Toby  
gruffly replied.

"Toby, you can't fool me anymore. I had no idea you  
were such a romantic."

"Owww! Ok, let's work", Sam muttered as he reached  
down to rub his leg, where Toby had just kicked him  
again.

***  
End.


End file.
